Although THQ was being counted out by many sources, the company has proven themselves to be extremely resilient, posting a $15.4 net income during their first 2013 fiscal quarter. However, the price of survival certainly didn’t come cheaply, as THQ suffered massive layoffs, office closures, and the cancellation of several upcoming video games.

At the very least, the most recent cancellation won’t result in a mass exodus of talent.

According to Joystiq, THQ president Jason Rubin announced that Guillermo del Toro’s game project “Insane” is effectively canceled, and won’t be going through any more pre-production:

“We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo del Toro,” Rubin said. It is a project the embattled publisher is no longer pursuing, and was cited alongside Facebook, mobile, and social as “outside of our core business.”

Given that Insane was a new concept title driven by nothing more than the possibility of del Toro’s potential cross-over fame with film and video game fans, the news isn’t surprising at all. Insane was also looking to be a massive investment on THQ’s part, especially since it was slated as the first part of a trilogy series.

Right now, this is par for the course in the new “Rubin-era” THQ, as the company is sticking to guaranteed profits with titles like WWE ’13, Metro: Last Light, Homefront 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Saints Row 4.

As their Q1 2013 investor relations report states, THQ also cut their net losses from $64.4 million to $23.3 million year-over-year. Ideally, they’ll want that number to crunch as small as possible during the course of 2013-2014.

Although THQ was being counted out by many sources, the company has proven themselves to be extremely resilient, posting a $15.4 net income during their first 2013 fiscal quarter.

Although THQ was being counted out by many sources, the company has proven themselves to be extremely resilient, posting a $15.4 net income during their first 2013 fiscal quarter. However, the price of survival certainly didn’t come cheaply, as THQ suffered massive layoffs, office closures, and the cancellation of several upcoming video games.

At the very least, the most recent cancellation won’t result in a mass exodus of talent.

According to Joystiq, THQ president Jason Rubin announced that Guillermo del Toro’s game project “Insane” is effectively canceled, and won’t be going through any more pre-production:

“We have decided not to pursue further pre-production on Insane, and have returned all of our IP rights to Guillermo del Toro,” Rubin said. It is a project the embattled publisher is no longer pursuing, and was cited alongside Facebook, mobile, and social as “outside of our core business.”

Given that Insane was a new concept title driven by nothing more than the possibility of del Toro’s potential cross-over fame with film and video game fans, the news isn’t surprising at all. Insane was also looking to be a massive investment on THQ’s part, especially since it was slated as the first part of a trilogy series.

Right now, this is par for the course in the new “Rubin-era” THQ, as the company is sticking to guaranteed profits with titles like WWE ’13, Metro: Last Light, Homefront 2, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and Saints Row 4.

As their Q1 2013 investor relations report states, THQ also cut their net losses from $64.4 million to $23.3 million year-over-year. Ideally, they’ll want that number to crunch as small as possible during the course of 2013-2014.